Lin Yühsia woke up rubbing her forehead.
She opened her eyes blankly. 'It's an unfamiliar ceiling... Where am I?'
She struggled to sit up, realizing she had fallen asleep directly on the sofa... and her surroundings were a complete mess.
A Sankta was sleeping on another sofa, hugging a Lupo. A Catus was sitting on the floor very peacefully, hugging her knees and sleeping soundly while leaning against the Lupo's leg that rested on the floor.
There was also a Forte lying spread-eagle right next to her.
As for what drew the most attention, it was the penguin planted headfirst on the floor by the bar... He was called Emperor, right? The famous rapper? Was he really okay after sleeping like that all night? Thinking of this, Lin Yühsia rubbed her temples with a headache and began to carefully recall how she ended up here.
'Right, this is a bar... Last night, my old man told me to come here to look for that girl, Chen Huijie. She had been ambushed in the Slums...'
'So how did I end up like this?'
'Hiss, it seems like...'
Last night.
Lin Yühsia stood at the entrance of The Ends of the Earth Bar. Listening to the sounds of revelry coming from inside, she mentally prepared herself before pushing the door open and entering.
But as soon as she entered the bar, she was immediately left dumbfounded by the wild, chaotic dancing inside.
That black and white penguin, Emperor, was holding a wine glass with both hands, raising it high as if holding some peerless treasure. Even though the Sankta next to him was already swaying unsteadily, she was still stubbornly reaching for the glass...
The black-haired Lupo was shakily supporting a somewhat familiar Catus, looking over at the Sankta with an extremely helpless gaze.
Seeing this, Lin Yühsia took a deep breath, letting herself be intoxicated by the mellow scent of alcohol in the air for two seconds before walking forward.
"Excuse me, where is Chen Huijie right now..."
"Are you here to drink too?" Before she could finish her sentence, the Sankta leapt up while Emperor's attention was diverted, snatched the wine glass, and was drawn over to her.
"Come, we won't go home tonight until we're drunk!" The Sankta was quite hospitable, bringing the wine glass directly to Lin Yühsia's mouth. Even though she clearly had a mission to fulfill, the moment she smelled the aroma of the wine... she subconsciously opened her mouth.
And then... as to what happened next, Lin Yühsia had absolutely no memory.
Until she opened her eyes just now.
"Ugh... is it morning already?" Perhaps because her movements getting up were a bit too large, the Forte beside her also opened her eyes. "Ah—"
She stretched, looking around groggily.
"Huh, why is everyone sleeping in the bar?" Croissant tried hard to open her eyes wide and look at the person beside her. "Also, who are you?"
"...Lin Yühsia," the latter had no choice but to introduce herself.
"Hiss, looking at this, they had a really wild time last night," Croissant scratched her head upon hearing this. "Sorry, I don't have any impression of this at all. Are you here to..."
"I'm here looking for someone," Lin Yühsia hadn't forgotten her mission at least, but recalling last night's situation, her face turned a bit red. "It's just that... they were simply far too enthusiastic."
"I clearly only took one sip of that wine..."
And then she slept straight until now... But even though it was a hangover, her head didn't hurt at all when she woke up in the morning. Instead, she felt completely refreshed and radiant, which was truly quite magical.
"Wine? Right, the wine!" Croissant clapped her hands together. "I remember we saved a girl last night. She gave me a sip of wine and then I didn't know anything else!"
"Wait, you saved a girl?" Hearing this, Lin Yühsia didn't notice how the girl was addressed. She reached out and grabbed Croissant's shoulders. "Where is she right now?"
"Uh, how would I know?" Croissant shrugged. "Didn't I just say? I've been sleeping until just now. You woke up even earlier than I did!"
"Chen Huijie, you absolutely cannot let anything happen to you..." Lin Yühsia's brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this, looking around at the members of Penguin Logistics.
"Texas? Texas?" Seeing her anxious appearance, Croissant figured this might be a family member of the girl looking for her, so she directly went over and shook Texas's shoulder.
The latter quickly opened her eyes and then looked at the Sankta in her arms with a face full of helplessness.
She finally managed to break free from Exusiai's arms wrapped around her. Tch, after a whole night like this, would that arm she'd been crushing underneath her even be usable anymore... But now was not the time to talk about this.
"Texas," Croissant looked toward Lin Yühsia. "Uh, this person seems to be looking for that girl we saved yesterday. I, well, went to sleep early last night, so where did you guys send her?"
"Send her? No, we brought her back," Texas rubbed her temples upon hearing this, starting to recall the events. "This miss..."
"My name is Lin Yühsia," the latter introduced herself.
"Oh, Miss Lin Yühsia," Texas seemed to remember. She had apparently joined halfway through last night and then collapsed after one cup...
"Sorry, that child should be right here in the bar..." Texas said as she looked left and right, but couldn't find that small figure anywhere.
"Child?" Lin Yühsia finally noticed that something was slightly off, but just then, the bar's main door was pushed wide open.
Xia Yu appeared at the doorway carrying a large bag of steaming hot breakfast.
"Right, that's her," Texas breathed a sigh of relief when she saw this. "Miss Bailu, what are you..."
"I went out to get some breakfast," Xia Yu nodded at her. "After all, with the state you guys are in... by the time you woke up, it would probably be time for lunch."
"I already said it was Medicinal Wine," she said with a face full of resentment. "The after-effects are huge, yet you all fought over it to drink it, and the moment you finished, you just crashed and fell asleep..."
Hearing this, Texas laughed awkwardly. She really couldn't refute that. Originally, she hadn't planned on drinking, as someone had to clean up the mess. Yith had gone out for some business right now and wasn't at the bar.
But smelling the aroma of that wine, she ultimately couldn't resist her craving. The result was the total annihilation of Penguin Logistics.
Even breakfast had to be prepared by such a small child herself.
Feeling embarrassed, she looked at Lin Yühsia and started to change the subject. "This Miss Lin Yühsia is here to look for you. Do you know her, Miss Bailu?"
"Lin Yühsia? I don't know her," Xia Yu shook her head, answering without missing a beat.
"Wait, what does this mean?!" Hearing this, Lin Yühsia finally reacted. "Didn't you say it was Chen Huijie? Who is she?"
"Who is Chen Huijie?" Texas was also puzzled. Although they had already registered with the LGD, they weren't familiar enough to know the real name of a Superintendent.
"Emperor clearly called my father last night to say that the person you rescued was Chen Huijie," Lin Yühsia tried hard to explain. "But... who is she?"
"We really don't know any Chen Huijie." Hearing this and recalling the boss's changes in attitude last night, Texas roughly figured out what happened. "The one we brought back was her!"
"Though saying 'rescued' isn't really that serious. Miss Bailu is quite amazing," she felt the need to add a few more words in defense. "With a single strike of Lightning Arts, she shocked the lead thug unconscious."
"...I'm going to make a phone call!" Hearing this, Lin Yühsia finally couldn't hold back anymore and rushed straight out of the bar.
Only Croissant and Texas were left inside, staring at each other in dismay.
"Aren't you guys hungry?" Xia Yu placed the breakfast on the table. "My treat today! Eat as much as you want!"
"Then thank you very much, Miss Bailu," hearing this, Texas directly reached out for the red bean bun inside.
Sigh, it was too late to say anything now. The boss had probably assumed everyone had saved some other big shot and had already bragged about it to others, never expecting it to be a massive misunderstanding...
Texas didn't even dare to imagine what would happen next, considering it involved the Chief Executive of Lungmen.
Since things had already reached this point, they might as well eat first.
Croissant, on the other hand, was completely confused. She had been asleep straight through until this morning and didn't know so many behind-the-scenes details. But since someone was treating her to a meal, she naturally wouldn't hold back!
On the other side, Lin Yühsia looked at the dozen or so missed calls on her phone, her feelings complicated.
"Father..." Ultimately, she still managed to dial the number with difficulty.
"Are you alright, Yühsia?" Rat King's voice came through the phone, just as usual.
"I'm sorry, Father..." Lin Yühsia took a deep breath before saying, "Last night... I was forced to drink by the people from Penguin Logistics... I didn't report to you in time..."
"It's fine," Rat King laughed out loud upon hearing this. "You didn't find Xiao Chen in that bar, did you?"
"No..." Lin Yühsia was a bit discouraged.
"It's good that you didn't. It's good that you didn't! If you had found her, then things would have truly blown up," Rat King sighed in relief. "Thank goodness it didn't actually happen."
"So what exactly is going on? Did you manage to ask?"
"Last night, the people from Penguin Logistics saved a little Dragonkin girl," Lin Yühsia explained upon hearing this. "It must have been a misunderstanding. Emperor thought the one they saved was Chen Huijie. After all, the Dragons of Lungmen..."
"Another little girl?" Hearing this, Rat King and Wei Yenwu, who was in front of him, looked at each other in dismay. "Are you sure she's a Dragonkin?"
"Yes, I'm very sure," Lin Yühsia nodded. "Those horns and tail, it's impossible for her to be a Vouivre. In Comparison, they look similar to Chen Huijie's, and she looks about ten years old..."
"That small?" Rat King looked at Wei Yenwu again, and the other party's face had already completely darkened.
"Right, her name seems to be... Bailu," Lin Yühsia tried hard to recall. "She also knows Lightning Arts!"
"Bailu..." Hearing this, Wei Yenwu pondered for two seconds. He had never heard of this name before.
However, Lightning Arts... that wasn't something you could just learn casually.
Was it Baizao's side... making some kind of move again?
"That guy Emperor actually gave false military intelligence!" Rat King's mustache bristled at this. Heaven knew how panicked he had been last night when he heard that Chen Huijie had almost been killed on his turf.
Especially after Wei Yenwu found out about this matter and didn't even call him, making him panic even more.
Last night, he had rushed over to Wei Yenwu's house all by himself without stopping, just to express that it really had nothing to do with him.
But this bastard seemed to have known all along and was just waiting to see him make a joke out of himself!
Rat King even suspected that these two bastards had teamed up to play a prank on him, but thinking about their respective identities, they probably wouldn't be so frivolous.
Now it seemed that it was Emperor's side that dropped the ball. They had saved another Draconic Girl. Perhaps it was a miscommunication that made Emperor think it was Xiao Chen, which then caused this massive mess.
Hmph, knowing he had created a massive misunderstanding, did he go so far as to force my daughter to drink just to avoid facing the consequences?
Emperor, you bastard!
"Go back to Emperor's place first," Rat King thought for a moment before speaking. "Keep an eye on that girl. Old Wei and I will discuss what to do next."
"Yes, Father," Lin Yühsia said without the slightest hesitation upon hearing this.
After hanging up the phone, she walked back to the bar.
On the other side, Rat King looked faintly at Wei Yenwu.
"Tell me honestly, were you and that guy colluding to amuse yourselves at my expense?"
Rat King naturally knew that wouldn't be the case, but he still needed to vent his anger. Even though Wei Yenwu knew there was an issue with this matter earlier than he did, he just wouldn't contact him, forcing him to run over to his house overnight to explain!
"Lin, you're misunderstanding me," Wei Yenwu smiled as he heard this. "I was very anxious, so I immediately called Huijie to confirm."
"Hmph," Rat King shot him a sideways glance.
Wei Yenwu just smiled and said nothing.
The reason he hadn't contacted Rat King last night was actually also a subconscious action on his part.
Emperor had indeed called Rat King. If he came over to explain things to him at that time, then Lungmen would continue to remain peaceful. If he hadn't...
It could only be said that Wei Yenwu, whose persecution paranoia was dialed to the max, was just like this.
Back then, he had only gone to force the old emperor to abdicate. That sword was purely for a sense of ceremony, and the entire court of civil and military officials supported him as the Crown Prince. But as soon as he stepped through the door, the old emperor just suddenly dropped dead.
As the Crown Prince who had entered the palace carrying a sword, he wouldn't be able to explain himself clearly no matter how many mouths he had.
Even up to that point, with some hard work, things could still be pacified. At worst, his reputation wouldn't sound as good. As the Crown Prince, he had many supporters, but Wei Yenwu didn't think so.
He felt that there definitely had to be some treacherous people trying to harm him, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence? His father just happened to die the moment he walked in the door, and he was even carrying a sword...
Oh no, could it be some ambitious younger brother plotting to take his place?
The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. So he directly packed his valuables and fled with the few imperial guards who were still loyal to him, forcing his teacher to use the lives of his entire family to settle this matter for him.
The current True Lung, who had originally just been waiting for his royal brother to ascend to the throne so he could live out his life carefree as an idle prince, was completely dumbfounded. Then he was forced to sit upon that supreme golden toilet, and now he toiled away all day, physically and mentally exhausted.
He had simply run away just like that, but how many people had to die because of that incident back then.
Now that he was in Lungmen, he still worried all day about whether the events of the past would come knocking on his door again. Honestly, it was just that his younger brother was kind-hearted and a good person; even after being screwed over like this, he still had no real intention of holding him accountable.
Otherwise, for a screw-up like him, if he had encountered a more ruthless younger brother, as the former Crown Prince, it would have been a miracle for him to live until now!
It would be one thing if he hid his identity, but he was cheerfully acting as his Chief Executive in Lungmen, living his own little life with his beautiful wife in his arms. If the True Lung really wanted to pursue the matter, just digging up the events of that year would be enough for him to die an unknown number of times.